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ToTT: Crouching Tigers, Hidden Soul (Ch. 10)
Chapter 10 July 18th X792 The army of creatures raced towards the group of Wizards, roaring with their weapons held high. "Sif, Hayden, Eugene.", Ezra said as his aura manifested as a thin veil around his body. "Grab the kids.", he said with a commanding tone, to which the three listened, and secured themselves with the kids, including Alex and Brianna, much to their disdain, due to their ages. "Iron Rock Wall!", Ezra casted as his Magic emanated into the ground and took control of the earth, spouting out multi-layered walls of solid ground on all sides of the Wizard group. A barrier of sorts. Following that, Ezra Requipped dozens of cards into each hand, and proceeded to launch them over the confines of the barrier. "Card Summon: Tyrant King!", Ezra said as sudden, echoing roars echoed from outside. The cards had morphed into numerous Tyrannosaurus Rexes, and were holding off the army for now. "We have a limited time to discuss a strategy, we need to assign groups so that we can't be picked off.", Ezra said when he turned to the others. As Ezra was saying this, Eugene began to display one of his more random talents which was the ability to carve wooden figures quickly. He had already carved out little figures for the group and was just finishing one for Hayden. He then took out ones for Sif and himself that he had made prior to all this. He set all of the figures onto a little board he had brought out. He also brought out other little figures to symbolize where the enemy was as well as the dinosaurs and walls Ezra summoned. "This is our current situation." Eugene said once he had set everything up. “We’re outnumbered by thousands. Even if we have more individual strength, we’ll be overwhelmed by numbers if we don’t plan this through.” It was then he heard a certain sound. While it wouldn’t be anything to the others, Eugene alone could recognize what that meant. “You guys can come on out you know? It’d be easier to plan with everyone present.” It was then several shinobi appeared out of nowhere. Even Ezra and Hayden couldn’t have sensed them due to their concealment techniques in sound, scent, magic energy and presence. “The Kagemori clan has arrived to provide assistance.” A male at the head of the group announced. “Not that I’m not glad that you guys are here but how did you manage to find me before the guild?” Eugene asked with slight confusion. Unchained Soul was one of the best in terms of collecting information and acting quickly. The group of ninjas had managed to do it faster and made it look like it took no effort. It scared Eugene a little. Knowing that he’d get no response to his query, Eugene decided to move on. “Anyway, I’ve already got a plan in mind. Kids, you already have my formations in your head right?” He said as he got out figures representing the shinobi. “You made sure to drill it into us Dad…” Brooke said with a bit of a sigh as she remembered those days being crammed with too many tactics. Oh well, at least it would help them now. After Eugene had explained the strategy, everyone had gotten into position. Against the army of thousands coming against them, only a group of four charged at them. “Okay then, the vanguard group will be Akabane, Brooke, Brianna and Alex. Start in Blast Formation and when you’re within 10 meters of the enemy, switch to Spear Formation. Akabane will take point and Alex is in the center position. Your group shall be striking the center of the enemy. This will split the enemy forces into two." Alex was at the front of formation and he unleashed a powerful barrage of attacks, effectively destroying the front line and causing a majority of the rest to fall into disarray. Once they had gotten close enough Akabane switched with Alex and lead the attack at their center. Around Alex in the formation of a triangle, Akabane, Brooke and Brianna acted like a spear that pierced through the enemy's defenses as they slashed and bashed through foe after foe. Alex had effectively added an artillery component to this spear, firing from where he was and supporting his teammates. In response, the enemy forces began to split in two and move in opposite directions to get around the spear attack. "In response, the enemy will split off to get around our spear. That's why we'll have to take the opportunity to strike at them while their forces are divided." Eugene said during his explanation having envisioned the actions the enemy would take. "For that, Ezra and Hayden will attack them when they do. The shinobi will then go into Locust Formation." Ezra and Hayden both attacked one enemy group, each of them with their own army of summoned creatures. As they attacked the enemy, the shinobi attacked the enemy from within their midst with their array of weapons and explosives. The enemy army fell into chaos, leaving almost no chain of command left. The few that was left was ignored for the most part. Eugene smiled as things were going according to plan. "With this, I call check." He said as he made the plants erupt from the ground, throwing the enemy into disarray even further as it broke apart the enemy ranks, allowing the shinobi, Ezra and Hayden to take them down even more easily. Any enemies that tried to escape by continuing forward were taken care of by Sif, Violet, Kai and Josh. Now then, the enemy has five options. Their move. Eugene thought to himself. Suddenly, the army started to thin in ranks faster than they were being defeated by the Wizards. A loud creaking of wood and rattling of chains echoed over the land, as the drawbridge to the castle began to lower. When it touched the ground, a large stream of even bigger monsters that gave off murderous auras began to charge out. The new monsters distracted the Wizards for long enough. Heels echoed off stone tiles, as a feminine figure made herself visible on the roof of the castle. Leona herself. She raised a hand, and the ground began to shake.The roof of the castle behind Leona split open, and a huge cannon as big as a building rose from it, charging a dark purple energy. "I have been foretold...my demise is all your fault...but since I cannot kill you I'll simply take the one you hold dearest!", Leona spat annoyance as the cannon let off a whine as it charged. Her nails elongated into claws as long as her body, and she drove them into the floor beneath her. Judging by the sounds, they tunnelled into the ground itself. Sif cleaved through a monster resembling a Minotaur, when she suddenly felt incredible pain in her legs, causing her to cry out in agony. She looked down, and saw two long spikes that had emerged from the ground and impaled through her shins, leaving her motionless. Three more of these spikes emerged and ripped clean through Sif's abdomen, causing her to shriek in fright and pain as she dropped to her knees clutching her stomach, causing even more damage to her still-impaled shins.The cannon shone brilliantly, as it fired a blast directly for Sif, which even Hayden was not fast enough to outpace before it hit the girl. However, there was someone right near her...and the feel that the blast was giving off was very familiar to him. No, not again. The voice that appeared in Eugene's head was what compelled is legs to move forward. A small flash of memory appeared in his mind which allowed him to recognize the cannon as it was coming out. Because of this, he was able to reach Sif in time. He couldn't use his plants to grab her due to the spikes so all he could do was get in front of the woman and take the hit. With the short amount of time he had left, he created a wall of plants in front of him. "Panzer!" He exclaimed, activating Fortification Magic for two reasons. The first one was to increase his defensive level. The second reason was so that he wouldn't be moved from the attack. He didn't want Sif to get hurt at all. The blast from the cannon easily broke through the defense of plants he had set up and it hit him dead on. Even with the tremendous force coming at him, he didn't budge and took the whole thing head on. Fine day to not have my Black Dragon suit He thought to himself with a bitter smile as he could feel the anti eternano affect him. Compared to most people, he had a high resistance to the magical barrier particles but it wouldn't be enough to stop it. Once the cannon had finished firing, Eugene remained standing although obviously and severely weakened from the blast. He still had a smile on his face as he gave Leona an expression that clearly said 'What? Was that really it?' Leona smiled and snapped her fingers. Eugene suddenly felt unbearable, burning pain through his body. Sif pulled herself free of the spikes and caught Eugene as he fell backwards, even though she fell herself with him, causing her to yelp in pain as well due to her own wounds. "Agh..", Alex mumbled as he saw his aunt and uncle too injured to do anything right now, and used his Territory Magic to teleport them to a safer location for now. While the battle raged on in the distance, Sif and Eugene arrived in a long canyon of sorts, out of sight and sensory range. They just remained in silence, until Sif let out a small, sigh-like whimper. "Eugene...why would you do that? You could have died from that...", she said, her voice getting choked up and her eyes becoming slightly misty. She had Eugene rested across her lap, one hand resting on his chest, the other on her own lap. "You took a direct hit in the other timeline and you survived it, why can't I since I have a higher resistance to anti-eternano?" Eugene countered with a small smile on his face although he didn't feel all that well. The only reason why he smiled was because of his master's teachings where he learned to smile in spite of anything. "I might even live a few more years than your other self did." His voice was already to grow weaker. "Don't worry, I'm not going to die yet but I need to rest for a bit." He said before slowly closing his eyes. It didn't seem that he would die but his current state was almost comatose. "That's not the point!", she yelled with a tone of voice that was as fragile as glass. "The point is...", she said with a sniffle, "Anti-Eternano resistance or not, you don't know what could have been mixed with it when it fired! What if that witch had planned for you to intercept and did something that is lethal to Dragon Slayers especially?!", she said as her voice got more and more shrilly as she started to cry gently. "Don't ever do that again, Eugene, please don't.", she said as Eugene drifted to dreamland, "I don't think I'd be able to cope if you died on me...", she said almost silently, sniffling afterwards. Suddenly a voice entered Sif's mind. It was a familiar voice. "Sif, can you hear me? What's going on!?!" Sif rose her head, looking startled. "Who's there?", Sif said, alarmed, as she presumed the voice to be from an outside source. "Who are you?", she questioned. "Oy, you can't recognize the voice of your own guildmate?" The voice said in response. "It's me Ren!" His voice felt a bit hurried. "Well, I guess my voice is slightly different now...Anyway, what's your situation right now? From the sound of your voice, I can at least tell something happened." "Yeah...Eugene took the hit from the cannon that was supposed to hit me.", she said, with a saddened tone in her voice. "He's not dead, but he's not exactly pouncing around either.", she continued, as she rested Eugene against a rock beside her, and placed her head against his shoulder, while clasping her hands around his, with the emotion of hope almost flooding out of her. Although unconscious, Eugene felt Sif's hand clasping his and he wrapped his fingers around hers as well. In the meanwhile, Ren sounded worried. "That idiot! I knew this would happen if I sent him back! Granted, I think he would have done that anyway even without his future memories and it's not like they were fully activated." He sounded frustrated at the moment as he said stuff that may have confused Sif. Sif looked down at Eugene's hand tightening, and smiled at the way it felt. And then Ren spoke again. Sif's face went blank as her eyes were hidden by a baffled blue shade. "You're insane.", she said shortly. She closed her eyes and focused on Eugene. A green mist emanated from her hands, and it began to flood through the Dragon Slayer's body. Sif was giving her Healing Magic a go on the man. "Insane huh? I wish that were true at this moment..." Ren said with a frown evident in his voice. It seemed that he could see what Sif was doing as he said "Unfortunately, that'll only heal the physical injuries he received. At some point, the anti-eternano will affect him further, resulting in basically him taking your place with death although it's been delayed by a few years. Things are already starting to change here. That's right, you're not talking to the Ren you know but rather his future self. Per future Eugene's request, I sent his memory back in time as well as the kids. Now we're in this predicament. I have an idea but it's already difficult to deal with. Augh, what do we do!?!" "Wait...the kids said that the future only became apocalyptic because I died..", Sif said softly as she realized, "If Eugene dies in my place...what's the future turning into?", she continued, as she maintained her Healing on the Dragon Slayer beside her. "From what I can tell, it's still apocalyptic but for a different reason. I put myself in some sort of time chamber so I'd still remember the stuff from before the change so my memories are still fuzzy about whats going on." Ren said in response. "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want this future either right? I do have one idea but even I don't know if it'll work. My magic can't help with this one." "If I die..the future goes to hell...", she said with a whimper, "If Eugene does...it still goes to hell...", she continued. "But what if we both...?", she said before being interrupted by her own, quiet sob. Tears dripped down Sif's cheeks as she stood upright. A glow appeared by her hands, and her famous Bloodsword was Requipped into her grasp. Ezra and Hayden entered her thoughts, as did the children. She held her sword up, blade pointed away. But she began to motion her arms down in a curve, bringing the blade down towards her chest, for the ultimate sacrifice... "Are you an idiot or what?" Eugene said all of a sudden before grabbing Sif by the wrists, making sure to get the sword out of her hands and headbutting her. "I don't know what you just heard but don't go throwing your life away like that. Although I'm one to talk though...." He said with a nervous smile. He was looking more normal at this point. It also showed that he couldn't hear Ren. Sif didn't even make a noise from the headbutt. She just dropped to her knees and put her arm over her tearing eyes, as she continued to cry, due to the stress and sadness building up from all of these occurrences. Her tears dropped from her cheeks onto her lap, leaving water stains on her white skirt before they dried away. "I'm sorry...", she whispered briskly. Now that the idea of suicide was out of her head, Sif began to cry as she fell onto her knees, apologizing the entire time. Eugene tried to comfort her but to no avail, she kept on crying. In response, Eugene just acted on impulse as he grabbed Sif's arms and pulled them away from her face before planting his lips on hers, silencing her apologies. After a short bit, he pulled away. "You calmed down now?" He asked. Before she knew what was happening, Eugene's lips were on her own. The feeling she got was a warm and fuzzy one, one which completely stopped her crying. She sniffled and her eyes disappeared behind her bangs like a curtain, as she rested her forehead against Eugene's chest as he was sat in front of her. "Yeah...thank you.", she said softly, using her long hair to hide the slight flush on her face. "Um, sorry about the suddenness of that." Eugene said as he just realized what he just did and was slightly red but otherwise had the same expression on his face like usual. "Anyway, I'm sure we can think of something that doesn't end with anyone dying. We've got a genius back at the guild don't we?" It was at this moment future Ren decided to interject. "Sorry to interrupt your little lover's moment but I'm going to tell you the plan that doesn't involve anyone's death if done correctly." Ren said to Sif. "I'll send your memories back in time. First, I'll transfer your future self's memories to help you." Sif would then feel all of the memories go into her at once. Sif was startled by all the memories entering her mind, until... She clutched her head in pain and seemingly anguish. While Eugene will remain puzzled about what just happened, Ren knew exactly what happened. Sif had just received the memory of the pain she was going through in the future as she died. She almost passed out, stumbling towards Eugene, before balancing herself by settling onto a flat rock beside her. "That pain...it was excruciating..!", she groaned as she continued to hold her head. "That's to be expected, you had to experience all the pain you had within those 10 years or so within a couple of seconds." Ren said in response. "Hopefully, the good memories softened the pain." All the while, Eugene had no idea what was going on and was confused. "Um, Sif are you okay?" Eugene asked with a worried expression on his face as he saw the woman in pain. He wondered what was going on. "Sif, I'm sending you back now." Ren said once Sif had calmed down a bit. "You'll be sent back to the day where you first met Brooke and Violet. I don't know when exactly you'll be sent back that day but it should be before Eugene arrives with them. Which reminds me, it'd be beneficial if he had his memories too. However, since he wouldn't know what's going on, it'd make things difficult. I'll make it so that they'd only be triggered once you say a certain word. Once he finds you, Ezra, and Hayden, say 'Gardina'." With that, he activated the device that sent Sif's memories into the past. "Now then, I guess it's time for me to get going as well..." He said as he began to finish up some processes. "Dad, don't worry, we'll handle things on this end." A girl with long red hair said from behind Ren, wearing a lab coat. "Leave things to us." A young man with a primarily red and white outfit. He had a sword in hand. Behind those two were other people of the teenage age. With a smile Ren pushed another button. "I'll leave things to you then." Ren said. Sif then passed out. When she awoke, she had 'returned' to a time in the recent past. It was not long before she and the others meet the children from the future. She was holding Hayden, while they were in the sky via Sif's Flight Magic. When he started to wriggle (and eventually fall), Sif decided to fly downwards like a meteor to get to Ezra without angering him like the past incident. Sif decided to stick to the original events for now until Eugene arrived with the girls. It was when it was about 10 minutes from the time Eugene would come that Sif remembered that Brooke had gotten hurt in the nearby forest. Being the overprotective mother she was, she wanted to prevent that. She suddenly raced off into the forest to both Ezra and Hayden's confusion and searched for Brooke. She managed to arrive to where Brooke was before the creature managed to injure Brooke to the point that she was the first time around, and quickly dispatched of the beast. "Okay...I made it in time...", Sif said to herself as she looked towards her future daughter. "But she's still hurt a bit...", Sif concluded in realization, as she continued to catch her breath. Thankfully, at most, Brooke got a few cuts but nothing that couldn't be healed by first aid. She was also conscious and noticed Sif, smiling as tears welled up in her eyes while she did. "Mom!" Brooke exclaimed jumping into her mother's arms. It was at that point Eugene and Violet appeared. Eugene looked dumbfounded at what he just heard. As he didn't have his memories presently, this was natural. "Um, Sif, just in case I didn't hear wrong, she called you 'Mom' right?" Eugene said while trying to figure things out. "Mind explaining?" Sif simply giggled and clutched Eugene's chin, pecking the Dragon Slayer on the lips. "Gardina.", she said afterwards, the trigger word that would bring the memories of Eugene's future into his body in the past. "You all caught up now?", she said as she began applying her own, though weaker compared to Ezra's, Healing Magic to the injuries Brooke had sustained. This was because they were only rather minor compared to what they were originally. The first thing that happened was Eugene getting somewhat flustered from the kiss and then all of a sudden, Eugene felt a huge pain in his head as the rush of memories flowed through his mind. Once it was over, Eugene looked around his surroundings in confusion. "Eh? How did we end up going from a rocky area to this forest?" He asked in bewilderment. The last thing he remembered was seeing Sif in pain for some random reason and then they all of a sudden ended up here. "Oh yeah, Sif, are you okay? What happened to you back there?" It was then he noticed that Brooke and Violet were here too. "Brooke, Violet, what are you two doing here? Is the battle over?" Although he was confused, the two girls couldn't help but be happy at this. There were two reasons to this. One, their father knew about them and two, they saw their parents kiss so they thought they were already a couple, meaning their existence was secured. "Dad, you know about us?" Violet asked. "Of course I do. What kind of father would I be if I couldn't even remember my own daughters?" Eugene said in response. Do they think I got amnesia or something? He thought to himself. He couldn't think any further than that before Brooke and Violet pulled their parents in for a hug. Eugene didn't want to ruin the moment so he just gave Sif a glance that said 'explain this to me later.' From how his daughters were reacting, Eugene was able to deduce that they had somehow ended up back to that moment except with a slightly different result. Just what the heck happened? A little later, Sif had gathered everyone back at her group's campsite for the night, and had introductions passed around. Hayden just looked completely baffled (like the first time around), meanwhile Ezra was pinching the bridge of his nose. "You okay, Ezra? Is something wrong?", Sif inquired to her older brother. "No, nothing. It's fine.", he passively dismissed the woman, as he went and continued cooking the dinner that everyone would be having tonight, but unnoticed by the others, he was focusing intensively on the children for some reason. He averted his gaze back to his cooking before it was noticed. "Are you suspicious about the girls or something? Perhaps you're just still baffled by the situation?" Eugene asked, all of a sudden appearing in front of Ezra. Last time Ezra checked, which was a few seconds ago, Eugene was with Sif and the girls, talking to them. Now he was positioned in front of Ezra without him even noticing until the Dragon Slayer spoke to him. Eugene even cut up the ingredients that needed to be cut without Ezra noticing. "There must be some reason why you've been looking at your nieces like that." He said, showing that he noticed Ezra doing that. "Like I told Sif, it's nothing, Eugene.", the Gunslinger said to the Dragon Slayer, putting extra emphasis on the second-to-last word, before returning to his cooking duty. Sif led Eugene away from Ezra, knowing full well of her brother's temper whenever someone presses on an issue with him. "Maybe we should just leave him be for now. I don't know about you, but personally I'd rather not piss off our chef.", Sif said with a slightly comedic tone in her voice. Eugene still felt suspicious about Ezra's actions but let Sif lead him away back to their daughters. There was some time before dinner would be done so Eugene began to mentally calculate where the other kids would be at this time with Violet sitting on his lap as most likely, they haven't changed their positions as the other timeline. He used code names with both numbers and words for the other kids on the off chance Hayden was reading his mind using Archive. Even if he was reading his mind and saw the calculations in his head, without knowing the context, it wouldn't make any sense. It would make even less sense since Eugene replaced the units of measurement with random phrases. At the same time, Brooke approached her mother about something. "Mom, would you teach your sword style? I want to try and expand my set of skills." Brooke said to Sif. "My entire sword style is based off of Dad's since you died before I started learning." She said this somewhat sheepishly as she showed off her starting stance which indeed showed that Eugene had a huge influence on her as it was almost exactly the same as his. "By the way, Mom, when did you start liking Dad?" Both Brooke and Violet asked this. It was normal for children to show some curiosity about their parents' love life. "Right now, we don't have the time it'd take. I'll have Hayden copy and download my sword style into your memory. But for now, you need to rest and store your energy. We all do... And that last part is not for you to know.", Sif said slyly as she went and sat with her brother, who was almost finished with dinner. Water splashing sounds echoed lightly as Hayden gathered water from the lake just meters away. Hayden's face looked rather stoic. Clearly, to Sif and Eugene anyway, he had read Sif's mind about her 'knowledge' of the future. He looked rather glum about it all. "Ehh? Why not?" Brooke said in response to what her mother refusing to say anything. It actually made her even more curious about the topic. It was plain to see on her face that she would pursue the topic later. While Sif was just oblivious to Hayden's emotions at the moment, Eugene was just too busy with his own thoughts to pay attention. Brooke wasn't much better, trying to figure out some way to get her mother to talk. However, one girl with a hood over her head was able to notice the werewolf's inner sadness and walked over to him. She stopped somewhat short of him. "I don't know what caused your sadness but...the morning always comes again. I'm sure happiness will come to you someday." The girl said briefly and somewhat silently as she walked past Hayden and towards Eugene and Sif. She hand signed to Eugene and the Dragon Slayer got the message. "You'll have to excuse us for a bit. Mind looking after the girls for a bit?" Eugene said as he grabbed Sif by the hand and led her in the direction that the hooded girl was leading them. "Easy there! I may be a former S-Class but I bruise like a peach.", she joked as she was pulled away by Eugene. "Eugene, where are we going?", she said as she gently got her wrist free and walked of her own will instead. Meanwhile, where Hayden was once crouched on the edge of the lake lay most of his clothes; he had went for a swim in the lake, and was simply floating on his back, thinking things over. Soon enough, Eugene and Sif encountered the hooded woman, who Sif happened to find rather unfamiliar, as opposed to Eugene who seemed to genuinely know her, judging by his actions and expressions. "Sif, there's no need to look at me as if I were a stranger. It's me, Atsuko." The girl in the hood said before taking off the hood, revealing her face and red hair. "I guess we can begin reviewing." A voice came from behind them as Kurogane practically appeared out of nowhere. Shana was right behind him. A door appeared and Ren soon came out of it. "Looks like everyone's here. Good work Atsuko, bringing them over." He said as he walked over to the girl. In response, Atsuko began to shake. "Kyaah!" She exclaimed before punching the scientist into a nearby boulder. "Ow..." Ren muttered in pain. "I forgot that Atsuko hasn't overcome her Androphobia yet." He said as he let out a sheepish laugh. "So you have your future memories too?" Eugene asked as he helped Ren onto his feet and the red head gave a nod in confirmation. "Wait, you said that I haven't overcome my androphobia yet... Does that mean I eventually do? Yay!" Atsuko exclaimed cheerfully. "Already, I get the gist." Shana said stepping forward. "Ren managed to use time travel to send the three of you mentally back to this time to prevent something bad happening. Judging on your actions, that time isn't that far off from now. So, give us the situation." "Yeah, you do, Atsuko!", Sif says with a happy smile. "You even get yourself a man.", she says teasingly with a wink. "Anyway, unless we somehow destroy this huge Magical Barrier Particle Cannon that the enemy possesses before it fires, the future will be afflicted with an apocalypse.", Sif said calmly as she explained the situation to the Unchained Soul members that just arrive. "If it hits me, my brother becomes a Tyrant Emperor of the World, but if it hits Eugene, well we don't even know the situation, but apparently it's still really bad. It is aimed in Eugene and I's direction every time, so that guildmaster must have a reason for it.", she concluded. "EH!?!" Atsuko exclaimed in surprise. "I wonder who that is..." She began to go through her limited list of male contacts. "What a troublesome situation. We'll have to plan everything out." Kurogane said with a serious tone of voice. "Well, we have this information as an advantage, we just need to make use of it." Ren said calmly. "I'll look into things. So for now, go back to the camp. And as for what we talked about here, we make sure not to tell anyone. Got it?" They nodded. Sif laughed gently at Atsuko's reaction. "Don't worry, he's a good guy. Warm and fuzzy.", she said as she smiled slyly towards Eugene. "Anyway, agreed on withholding the information. It could mess things up.", Sif said as she rested her hands on her waists. "We should probably hurry and get back to camp, Eugene, or they'll notice we've been gone for a while.", Sif says as she turns to look at her companion. "Already on it." Eugene said in response as he activated a Dokodemo Door. At this time, the other three had already gone without so much as a sound. After preparations were done, Eugene opened the door which led to the campfire directly. "Sorry for the wait." He said calmly as he stepped through the door. "Mom, Dad, welcome back!" Brooke exclaimed happily. "So what did you go to talk about?" "Just some stuff relating to the guild." Eugene said in response, not missing a beat. "Come and sit down, dinner is almost done!" Violet said from where she was sitting. She and her sister motioned to their parents to sit next to them. Sif walked along to her tent, tying her hair up into a high ponytail to eat dinner properly, with her bangs tucked behind her ears. She sat down beside her future-daughters, bumping them playfully, earning a giggle from the two girls. "Dinner's ready.", Ezra said as he began placing the meals into dishes for everyone as the calm, yellow fire crackling away in the background against the gentle clinking of the ceramic bowls. "Let it cool for a few minutes. I had to use magic fire to heat it, and Magic fire is a much more hotter than regular.", Ezra said as he finished with the final preparations, and set his own bowl aside. Hayden, Sif and the kids happily lifted their bowls and spooned the food into their mouths, all of them clearly over the moon with the delightful taste. Ezra's cooking is famous across numerous continents, after all. After everyone lifted their bowls, Ezra lifted his own and sat on a stump, quietly eating his. Eugene quietly ate his food. While he thought of it as delicious, there were more pressing things on his mind. While things may seem peaceful now, there are certain things that will have to be prevented. The end goal is to make sure the apocalyptic future does not happen. The best bet to accomplish that is to make sure nobody dies or gets infected by the anti eternano while we take down Serpent's Cross and their MBP cannon. Some preparations will have to be done... As he thought this, he began to think of multiple plans. Violet noticed her father sort of zoning out and she decided to tug on his sleeve. "Dad, is everything alright?" She asked in a soft voice. This snapped Eugene out of it as he turned to face the young girl. "Yeah, everything's fine, just got caught up with thinking about something." He said in response as he patted Violet's head. "No need to worry." he said in a comforting tone. After everyone went to bed, Eugene took it upon himself to go and gather the other children from the future, which was a relatively easy task...until he found a more than slightly-tipsy Alex. Despite getting charred here and there, Eugene managed to get the young Devil Slayer in his grasp and bring him back to camp. The next morning... Ezra was standing at the edge of a lake, with the group gathered in front of me; everyone with new, updated equipment, including clothing. "Is everyone ready?", the tall Wizard asked his comrades. Everyone nodded, all of them looking confident, calm, powerful. Ready. "Let's go then.", he continued, as he threw numerous cards down onto the grass, from which vehicle-sized Eagles were summoned. As everyone was climbing the oversized birds, Sif looked at the horizon, adorned in hew new outfit that included an armour chestpiece, and her hair tied back, her face was riddled with worry, until Hayden gave her a nudge on the shoulder. The pair climbed an Eagle, and the giant birds took off into the air towards the location of Serpent's Cross' base. ''--- CHAPTER END ---'' Category:Mrs Sting Eucliffe Category:Forest Dragon Slayer Category:Storyline Category:Chapter Category:Chapters